Stop Waiting to Get Motivated

I get fed up with myself.

Combining a temptation to be lazy with self-imposed high standards often leaves me on a slackline between all-out work and all-out channel surfing. I sit down to watch a quick television show and… bam, It’s three in the morning, I’ve just finished five seasons of Netflix nonsense, and I have a horrible pit in my stomach.

If I don’t FEEL like working, then it’s hard for me to get off my butt and work. Motivation and feelings can only get you so far; it only comes around every now and again. The people who are driven are the ones who achieve greatness.

I met a man for about two seconds two years ago and I’ll never forget him. When I say ‘met’, what I really mean is that I caught a glimpse of him from the back of a rusted white pick-up truck somewhere in the middle of rural Haiti.

Long before the 7.0 magnitude 2010 Haiti earthquake, the nation lived in poverty. Death tolls from the quake are estimated to have been in the hundreds of thousands. Today, the national poverty rate is at 58.6%. The people below the Haitian poverty line live on an average of $2 per day.

Trash covers the streets and sidewalks. The temperature makes the trash rot, and the air in the summer is so hot it sticks in the back of your throat.

The man I spotted from the truck was wading through a rice field, tending to the crop. We were stopped on the side of the road, so I had a moment to take it in. I can only speculate, but he probably works that field every day. Mud caking his calves; squishing between his toes. Heat scorching. Scythe swinging. Blisters ripping.

Two dollars a day.

There’s something about places like Haiti that will make you grateful. After that trip, I was more than motivated. I wanted to work harder than I’d ever worked before. And that’s the problem.

I started training hard for an obstacle course race called the “Spartan Race”. These races are BRUTAL. This particular race was 4+ miles with 20-25 obstacles not including the mud, hills, and swamps. I completed the race, but my blind motivation was holding me back. Every other day I would run 5 miles as fast as I could, trying to beat my personal record every time. When I lost, I beat myself up. When I won, I felt fulfilled. However, at a certain point, I started regressing. Instead of beating my last time, I was beating myself up. Looking back, I think it came from either a fear of failure or a desperate need to show myself that I can succeed.

I was disgusted with myself. I believe I can do anything I set my mind to, but what if that isn’t true? I ran the Spartan Race and got 69th overall. It felt like an accomplishment, but It wasn’t good enough. So what can I work on for next time?

Like in Haiti, I get motivated to do things all the time, but it fizzles out. The Reel Rock 12 trailer gets me psyched to climb, but that initial motivation only lasts so long. My brain convinces me I don’t need it, I don’t have the talent, or I could be doing something else. If I don’t hit those goals or see improvement fast, I start to feel like a failure.

I need to remind myself about the end goal, and I need accountability to stay on that path. Emotion only gets me so far. It’s unreliable. A driven individual doesn’t let how they feel get in the way of progress. Stop waiting for motivation to come. A driven individual creates their own success. No matter their external circumstance.

To become driven, you have to create habits. Remind yourself of the end goal. Write it on the walls. Cut out that thing in your life that makes you feel lazy. Get up earlier. Work harder. I’m going to stop letting the world around me define me, and create my own work ethic. So those are the things I’m working on this year.

I’d like to do a bit of an experiment. I’ve got another Spartan Race coming up in May. This particular race is in Austin, Texas. It’s 8+ miles with 25-30 obstacles. My goal is to get into the top 40 of racers. I’m tired of waiting for motivation to come, and I’d like you (the reader) to be my accountability partner in training. Stay tuned for the post-race blog. I’ll share my results, and we’ll see how I do.

My memory of the Haitian rice farmer helps me remember the great opportunity that I have in my life. With habits and drive I can work as hard as my body will let me, and I know I can achieve anything I set my mind to.

I’d love to hear from you. Do you share my struggle at times? What drives you to achieve the things you want to achieve?

Published by thedihedral

A team of writers, artists, scholars, and professionals, who share an endearing devotion to “the outdoors." Friends who share a warmth and predilection for mother nature and the possibilities she presents to us all. Our mutual interests in rock climbing, hiking, writing, and exploring brought us to theDIHEDRAL, and we hope you find our eccentric little “corner” of the community just as inviting as we do.
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I’m the same as you. When I’m motivated, I’m really motivated. But when I don’t feel like it, I’m terrible, and then the guilt comes. I’m struggling at the moment to find the motivation to do anything other than ticking over…

Exactly. Glad I’m not the only one! In some way, it gets all the way back around and I start not wanting to do something because I’m afraid of the guilt that comes when I quit doing it… Does that make sense? Appreciate the comment.

Lovely blog name! One thing I learnt last year, was that these phases where we appear to be just coasting when our assumption was that we’d be hurtling towards the goal at a constant speed until we achieved it, are spirit and mind recuperation time. Now I’m not into any form of mumbo jumbo before you think I might be … but it makes sense … like taking a rest while we reassess the goal and perhaps tweak the route here and there. We humans expect too much of ourselves in one go. Interval training works best with many fitness regimes as we know, so why don’t we allow ourselves interval speeds with our approach to goals! Right. Cup of tea and a sit down 😀

Gah, always. I set myself a schedule, a routine, and try to stick to it. Up at 4am, write for at least an hour, check emails, etc. It’s not always possible but I also try to squeeze in a hike, even a mile is better than nothing. It’s so hard to stay up some times. The struggle is real bruh!! Keep gettin at it.

This is where visual boards, goals, daily habits of reading through your goals, etc. comes into play greatly. Accountability is also huge for us mere mortals. It is like we need to know that we will let someone down in order to get off our arse. I think it is the communal mindset from history up until the past few hundred years. People had to go out and do hard things, like the rice farmer, or their community would suffer as a direct result. When we do not have community then we are okay letting ourselves down. We suffer as an individual by watching five seasons of whatever on Netflix instead of getting a good nights sleep and hitting the rock face early, or doing that longer distance run that starts at 4 a.m. or whatever your training regime requires in order to hit the top 40 goal. I will be following your progress as a member of your community blog here. Find a way to ignite the fire. Paste a big TOP 40 on the wall by your bed so that you see when you wake up and go to sleep. Know what you need to do physically to make it happen in terms of race time, and then create your training plan. May the schwartz be with you.
Keith

You’re so right! I’ve always been a big picture guy. When I have a goal I just white knuckle and do it! The problem is I don’t take the time on those types of details and remind myself of the goal. Thanks for the great comment!

This one hits home for me… Aspiring musician, aspiring entrepreneur, full time civil engineer who reluctantly walks into work every day, works the 8 hours, earns a paycheck, and is left with nothing but money to pay the bills and the term “aspiring” dangling off of my dreams. Thank you for this much needed reminder. I also recently turned running into a habit because sitting in an office chair all day, all week, all year adds a different sort of guilt. The trick for me is turning running THEN practicing music and adding to my business plans into one big habit instead of three separate ones. Looking forward to hearing about your race! Good luck 🙂

Thanks for the great comment! You remind me of my dad. When I was young he left his career in business to pursue a career in the music industry. Check out (https://realliferealmusic.com)! I’m so glad you enjoyed the blog.

this happens all the time with me, not so much with exercise right now, but with other things. there is a fine line between pushing yourself to better yourself and doing something to solely punish yourself in the end. like the saying goes, the mind is a powerful thing. long after the scrapes have turned into scabs and more than likely turned into scars, the mental crap that floats around in your head usually is still there. i agree that changing your mindset, looking at life from adopting better habits that fit with your personality, and having variety is probably the most important for many people. i wish you great luck with your endeavors.

The part about being ruled by motivation is something I think we’ve all experienced at one point, and (at least for me) it’s definitely the most difficult step. It’s paramount to our success that we become independent of that cycle because like you said, it ultimately ends with regression, not growth; unfortunately, it’s easier said than done though.

Not with rock climbing but with racing. I have literally cried with frustration. I am what you might call an over achiever and I absolutely FEAR failure. I had to slow down, visualize, regroup, wusah and then try again without putting so much pressure on myself. Funny, when I wasn’t expecting it or really trying for it, it happened. And then things got better after that.

I am the same way. When I used to play football I found myself in tears after practices because I was so small I couldn’t lift/hit/run as much as my teammates. It’s amazing how that can fuel us to work harder and become more mentally tough. Thanks for the comment!

Ugh, this article resonated a lot with me. I hate when I have motivation for something and I loss that “drive” simply because the results are taking time. I need to stay focused on my goals and push myself through the grind till I reach it instead of just giving up. I sometimes believe that I give up because I don’t want to fail, self-fulfilling prophecy for sure. Thanks for this article and the reality check 😉

I think you’re right about accountability to someone else (for those of us who lack accountability to ourselves). I spent years developing a course I wanted to teach, making slow progress. I thought I was doing OK. Finally I told my boss what I was working on and that I wanted to present the course at a particular conference. Being accountable to her as well as myself seemed to be what I needed to whip it into shape. I’m presenting it again (revised) next week in Salt Lake City if you’re in town 😉
Now that we all know what you’re going to do in May, you’ll do it!

Great blog. It sounds like you have a lot of (unconscious) rules for what constitutes failure and very strict one that constitute winning or progress. In my world, the fact that you run 5 miles makes you a winner. The fact that you would enter a Spartan Race makes you a winner. That you finished a Spartan Race a winner! It can be hard to motivate yourself when you have such a narrow window of ‘doing well’. I wish you all the best and I look forward to reading about your smashing success in May.

What has driven me? Drives me? External imperatives (of course) but also the feeling that if I do not do the things that pertain to me, then I’m not me. But that all has come with a price and now the imperative to continue being me is leading to my second major hip operation. I’ve actually questioned that. Have I just been a running fool all my life and this is a big cosmic, “Ha ha, told you so!” or a test of identity? I don’t know. But I do know the despair that comes when my true self has been pushed into compromise or a corner by life, fate, time or pain. I’ve never had a problem with remaining motivated, actually. I dunno… If you LOVE something and it IS you, I believe you will persist. Sometimes others can be an awakening force for us and maybe your Haitian rice farmer has been that for you. Maybe he is just a way station on the road that will carry you to the internal fire. 🙂 ❤

Over the years of trying to maintain a fitness level, I have also found getting in the habit is the best way to make sure it done. If I am not so motivated, I may not do my best, but I feel better that I got it done.

Yup. This is all me. I think, each Sunday, “Ok, this is the week” and then my asthma is bad or the weather sucks or I have little time… and then I feel defeated. I think to myself, “I want to do the competitive Spartan race” but I just can’t. So I don’t. I don’t know how to get past it. If you find out, let me know.

Ok, well, because of your blog, I learned a new word today. I literally had to look up dihedral because I didn’t know what it meant. Thanks for that, nice post, and thanks for stopping by my place as well! 😊

I think I never had an experience like that man and I don’t care so much about goals. I do care more about doing everything as good as possible, with love and dedication – and see where it gets me in life. Hopefully to true happiness in the end.
My personal drive is the Holstee Manifesto https://www.holstee.com/ and to never stop in a way, always keep going and working on improving things step by step.

What a coincidence I found you! I get it, motivation’s hard, cuz guess what? You’re scared that something won’t work out, that you’ll have TRIED for something in vain. Or that it’s too hard and therefore not worth it. Good thing I took a good hike today to clear my doubts! Next stop: trying to monetizing my blog. Now how’s THAT for motivation?!
Thank you for sharing, and thank you for liking my poem post.
– Tiffany xx

I so can relate. When I’m inspired and motivated, things seem easy even though the tasks are hard or take time. But when I’m not, I feel sluggish. I just try to keep on and rest if needed, just to get some progress in. Good luck with the race 🙂

This is a pretty cool perspective and we definitely can take ourselves and our worth for granted. I used to be a runner and towards the latter part of my career I was becoming apathetic towards it. I knew it was time for a paradigm shift. I started to avoid running, something I thought I loved, I was so confused. So, I did something I had never done before, took myself out of my comfort zone…weightlifting. After having made a switch to a strength sport my confidence, motivation, drive, health, overall positivity has improved tremendously! I am so happy I decided to do something else. I consider running some days and on the off chance that I do, I love it. I know one day I can come back to it. Until then, I’m happy. Long story short, if you’re feeling your “stress-relief” activity is causing you more stress, try something completely different until that desire and excitement comes back, climbing, running, etc will ALWAYS be there. Try new things. I wish you all the best!

I also struggle with staying on Netflix too long and then I have to always remind myself my goals and I think that motivation is most important in order to achieve your goals ☺️ Great post and I like the example of the worker you used, to see how other people work hard is always good inspiration, but also motivation quotes can be sometimes very helpful 🙂 Thx for taking time to like my blogpost I appreciate it.

Hey Casen,
I wanted to thank you for that motivational post you wrote and I really hope you continue writing like this. Personally, I also tend to be lazy by staying in bed and watching Netflix sometimes. Btw I strive to become an entrepreneur and to live my life to the fullest. Even though I’m still a teenager I do have the opportunity to work on my plan to become an entrepreneur for the future and to be honest I think that your post gave me back my motivation to work on it and I really thank you for it.
Keep up the good work,
Jordan.

The irony is that your like on my first post motivates me to write more. Motivation is not totally irrelevant sometimes you need it to give you that extra push, something which though small can add to your momentum 🙂

That article really hit home…I struggle with this daily. I’m in the process of starting not just one, but two new businesses and I alternate between working to exhaustion and binge-watching Netflix. I’m working on learning to work at a steady pace, but it’s hard. I’ll get all excited about a project and spend six or eight hours on it, which means I’m neglecting all the other work I should be doing. I make homemade soap, which has a six-week cure time, so I can’t afford to get behind. If I run out of something, I won’t have it in stock for six weeks, and customers will go somewhere else. I can’t afford to neglect soapmaking, but I do.
I will be following you and rooting for you and (hopefully) I will be motivated by your example. Thank you for writing about what so many of us are going through.

Lovely post. I realized that appreciating the present moment while being hopeful about the future and taking consistent action can help to form positive habits that are beneficial to both your work attitude and off work lifestyle.

I love this post!
I struggle with motivation a lot, it is usually quite high when starting new project and with time I get bored and lazy and end up not completing what I have started. I discovered that not putting too much pressure on myself to succeed works best, I just take it slow and try to keep the goal in front of my eyes. I like to think that I will get there at some point, no matter what amount of time or energy it will take. And that helps. That keeps me going. And it does get easier when it becomes a habit.
Thanks a lot for sharing your story! Keep up the good work!

Your photos are marvelous, especially the one at the beginning, in a cave, it looks like. Gorgeous. Motivation can be hard. I always find myself sort of walking around in circles like a dog does before lying down. Once I seem to have walked around enough and have watered the plants and walked again, something inside of me sits me down and I’m in the flow.

I can relate a lot to your article about motivation, fear and beating myself up. I have to be really careful to set goals that challenge me but that are also achievable and realistic. I can set perfectionistic goals that are too lofty and I’m just setting myself up for disappointment. I am planning to embark on a book writing course this summer and am going to attend a writing conference in October. These are good goals for me at this point. If I say I’m going to write the whole book and have it all ready to go for October, it would be too much and put too much pressure on. But the goal of working on the course and the book and having something to bring to the conference is much more realistic and very exciting to me. I love your accountability piece too, I so need that as well!

Yes! Yes! YES!!! You really do have to take control of motivation. Same with inspiration. Never wait for inspiration or motivation to come tapping on your door. These lovely muses like to know you’ll be there for them. When you show up regularly and do the work, they begin to show up too. It’s like magic! Also, I love the video shots you included. Those were hilarious!

For me, it is always hard to just get up and be more active. I sit a lot all day. I am either sitting in the car driving to and from place, I am sitting at home because I just feel exhausted and need a moment but of course that moment becomes hours and before I know it, it’s night time and way past the time I should be up.
But, however many times I feel sluggish or unmotivated, I just remember my younger siblings and the example I need to set knowing they follow my steps. I remember that I am way older than them and I would like to be here for a long time alive so I must be active to be healthy to be able to do that means be able to see my younger kiddos grow up and be a part of their life so it gets me moving again.